Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Chandigarh on Friday to chair the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh.
The chief ministers in the zone, chief secretaries and senior officers from the state and central governments are attending the meeting.
Eighteen items, including the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, drugs and security issues, are being taken up for discussion.
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Five zonal councils – central, western, northern, southern and eastern – have been set up under the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. These councils are advisory bodies and may discuss any matter in which some or all of the states represented in the council have a common interest. They can advise the central and state governments on action to be taken.
A zonal council may discuss and make recommendations on any matter of common interest in economic and social planning, any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-state transport and any matter connected with, or arising out of, the reorganisation of states. The zonal councils aim at discussing and resolving substantive issues of development concerning regional interest and national programmes through its consultative mechanism.
{{/usCountry}}A zonal council may discuss and make recommendations on any matter of common interest in economic and social planning, any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-state transport and any matter connected with, or arising out of, the reorganisation of states. The zonal councils aim at discussing and resolving substantive issues of development concerning regional interest and national programmes through its consultative mechanism.
{{/usCountry}}The 27th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council was held at New Delhi on April 25, 2015.